Hyderabad:The Telangana High Court on Tuesday expressed dissatisfaction over the lack of arrests in relation to the reactor explosion at the Sigachi Industries pharma unit in Pashamylaram, Patancheru, in June, which claimed the lives of 54 workers and left several others injured. The court expressed serious concern over the slow pace of investigation and asked why no arrests had been made despite the availability of witness statements and prima facie material.
The court directed the state government to submit a comprehensive report on the progress of the investigation and posted the next hearing to November 27.
Asking whether or not the `1 crore compensation had been paid to each of the victim families as promised by Sigachi Industries, the High Court directed the managing director and chief executive officer of the company to file a counter, The court directed the government to place before it the details of the compensation paid to the families of the deceased and to the injured workers.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by city-based petitioner K. Baburao. The petitioner sought directions to expedite the investigation, provide fair compensation, and to consider handing over the investigation to the Central Investigation Laboratory (CIL).
The bench asked the government to furnish details of the expert committee report that was constituted to inquire into the causes of the explosion, including the findings and recommendations made in the report.
Arguing for the petitioner, counsel Vasudha Nagaraj submitted that the investigation had not progressed significantly even after several months and that no arrests had been made despite clear indications of lapses and violations by the company. She contended that the compensation had not been fully disbursed.
Additional advocate general T. Rajnikanth Reddy, appearing for the state, informed the bench that the police had recorded the statements of 192 witnesses. The company’s vice-president, who was in charge of operations, had died in the explosion. He said that the expert committee had submitted a report to the government, which was under consideration, and requested two weeks to file a counter. He informed the court that the company had paid `25 lakh to the families of each deceased worker and `21.83 crore in total, covering medical expenses and other relief measures.
The bench questioned whether the death of the vice-president absolved the other responsible officers in the company. When the bench sought clarity on the promised `1 crore compensation per deceased worker, the additional advocate general said the company management would explain the issue in its counter, and that the government was acting only as a monitoring agency. He also informed that the labour department had sealed the factory premises after the incident and steps would be taken based on the expert committee’s recommendations.
Paper leakage: HC adjourns procedings filed by Bandi
Hyderabad:Justice J. Anil Kumar of the Telangana High Court on Tuesday adjourned the proceedings filed by Union home minister for state Bandi Sanjay to quash a criminal case filed against him in the SCC question paper leakage incident. Pending the case filed in 2023, the petitioner has been given protection from arrest.
Senior counsel L. Ravichander argued that the complaint did not make out an offence either under the Indian Penal Code or the Telangana State Public Examination (Prevention of Malpractices) Act. He pointed out that the provisions of the Act would not apply to the petitioner.
Ravichander said that even according to the prosecution the paper was allegedly leaked after the examination had begun and the theory of a person jumping walls and taking photographs of the paper were celluloid material and far from fact. He said that the prosecution was politically motivated.
Justice Anil Kumar continuously probed the public prosecutor on various aspects of the matter including the applicability of the Malpractices Act against the petitioner. On request the matter is adjourned to the next week for the public prosecutor to argue that matter.
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